Machine for coating articles



MACHINE FOR COATING ARTICLES Q J l o I Q N S S N mfluu-n Dea 29,1925- L56Z508 H.N.HUSE

MACHINE FOR COTING ARTICLES Filed April 24, 1925- 4 sheets-sheet-z By 77 M.

Dec. 29, 1925' 1,567,508

- H. N. HUSE MACHINE FOR COATING ARTICLES Filed April 24, 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Hlllllllllllllullllllllllllllll TTU/UVE nsf Dec. 29, 1925- 1,567,508

' H. N. HUsE MACHINE FOR COATING ARTICLES Filed April 24. 192s 4'sheets-sheet 4 N l I l HW /NI/ENTo/e By f 7 mi A Troie/v5 K6" Patented Dec. 29, 11925.

UNITED s'TATEs PATENT oFFlcE.

HIRAM N. HUSE, OIF'Y PROVIDENCE, RHUDE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR '.lJO ST. MUNGO MANU- FACTURING COMPANY OIE' AMERICA,

TION E NEW' JERSEY.

OF NEWARK, NEW- JERSEY, A CORPORA'- MACHINE FORA COATIN G ARTICLES.

Application led April 24,

To all whom 'it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HIRAM N. HU'sE, a citizen ofthe UnitedStates, and a resident of Providence, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Coatinor Articles, of whiclrthe j followingy is a specificationL My invention relates to an improved ma* chine adapted for spraying a coating of paint or 'other liquid on round or cylindrical objects, such as golf balls for example.

l/Vhen objects of this character are coated l by hand it is difficult t apply the coating uniformly and one of t e objects of this invention isthe provisionof a machine which is automatic insits operation and by which golf balls for example or other cylindrical objects may be uniformly coated.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a machine for automatically and uniformly coating cylindrical objects-wherein the objects to b e coated are automatically charged to and discharged from the machine so that no manuaLhandling of the objects is necessary, means being provided wherebya number of the newly painted "objects may be set dry. v.

A lfurtherv object of my inyentionis the provision of means for automatically conto one side until n trolling the coating` devices or guns so as to shut off the sameafte'r av particular object to be coated' has been treated.

In general, my machine comprises a plurality'cf brackets or object-supporting devices mounted for rotation upon a stationary shaft so that the objectsy to be coated are pickedy up from the loading device and completely coated whiletravelling in the arc of a circle. .The coating devices or guns are lmounted so as to rotatein tlie salue plane,l

Acoating zone and shut off when the coating .f operation 'is completed.

len an'axis coincident with the axisof rotation of the supporting 'brackets and in synchronis'n'i with the bodily/ movement of the objects being coated se that a gun is. always directed towards an object as the latter passes'through the'co'ating. l

-As' above stated, means are provided whereby the guns will. be automatically started in operation as an object enters the The coating guns and the apparatus for 1923. Serial No. 634,244.

'carrying the articles to be coated are driven from the main drive shaft, this shaft also driving the loading and unloading mechanism, the whole machine being properly synchronized so as to enable the articlesto be automatically charged into the machine, coated and unloaded.

In the accompanying drawings wherein I have illustrated an embodiment of my'invention,`

Fig. l. shows my improved machine in part sectional elevation;

Fig. 2 is an elevational View showing more or less generally the construction of thel spraying devices and the control therefor as well as the details of the unloading Aor discharging mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the details ofthe spraying apparatus;

Fi 4 is a view taken substantially on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view somewhat enlarged of the unloading mechanism; and

Fig.4 6 is a section taken throughV Fig. 5 substai'itiallyv on the line-6-6.

Referring to the drawings ,in detail, 1 designatesthe base of my improved machine, carrying at the upper part thereof av stationary, partially hollow shaft 2. This shaft is best seen in Fig. 3. The shaft 2 carries the coating devices or guns 3'of which there are four in the present machine. It will be understood of course that the machine may be designed to vary this number if desired. The shaft 2 also supports the arms 5 carry ing heads 6 upon which 'the' objects to e painted are mounted. Four guns having Aare operated by compressed air and the paint -or other material with which the articles are to be coated may be led into the semi-hollow shaft 2 at 10, any suitable connection bein provided between this end of the shaft an a paint reservoir. The other end 11 of the shaft y2 may bel connected by suitable connections to anfair reservolr.

s will be seen from Fig. 1 a pipe ccnl nection is provided from the gun at one sideJ of the brackets or arms to a corresponding gun onA the opposite side by, the pipe 12 which may be for air or coating material as the case may be and a similar connection, is

provided by the pipe 13. ln other words,

- conduits for coating material are provided between the guns on each side of the arms or brackets 5 so that the supply of air .mayr

all be led into the machine at one end of the the arms 5 and by means of the pipe 12 with ytail in Fig. 2, the operation of this mechaa corresponding` coating device on the other side of said arm.v This permits of a supply of air uriuder pressure lto spraying devices on y each side of the arms 5 s1multaneously and similar means are provided for supplying coating material .to coating devices on each side of thea-rms 5 the` coating material lbeing led as above pointed out through the end V1Q of the shaft 2through the shaft untilr it reaches port 17 which port isin communication .with pipes -18 similar to the pipes 16 already referr dto, these pipes also communicating wit the pipe 13 passing.,.over to vand ynommunicating' with the coating 'devices at'the left-hand side of the arms 5 as viewed in Fig. 1. This permits of a supply of paint or other coating material to be fed to coating devices on each side -of the arms 5 simultaneously. I

The discharge of the coating yxiaterial is controlled bythe mechanism shown in de# nism properly timed `being synchronous with respect tothe lother operating parts Y of the machine: t y From Fig. 2 it will be seen ing device or gun is provided with triggerv that each co'atmechanism comprising a Apivoted valve-controlling lever` 19 pivoted 4at 20, and pro;4 vided at one end with a roller 21 adapted to. cooperate with a cam track 22. The opposite end of this lever isengaged by a pivoted bell Cranklever 23wh1ch in turn coopcrates with a. stationary ,cam 24 mounted upon the'shaft 2. As the coating devices' are rotated ina manner to be hereinafter described, tlie, cam track 20 and stationary 'v cam 24 will cause the valve-controlling le-l ver 19e-'through the medium of the roller 21 and belllcrank lever 23 to berocked about its pivot to automatically shut ofi' and open the valves of the coating devices so as" to permit of the coating material to be discharged from the spraying devices for a .predetermined length of time and then to be automatically shutv off'until a new articleto be coated enters the coating zone.

Rotation of the'coating device about the shaft 2- is eifected through the medium of a gear 25 mounted upon the sleeve 9 at the right of Fig. 1, this sleeve being keyed to the bracket 3 supporting the spraying devices on thefright side of the arms 5 (see Fig. 3)

a connection, to Wit/a`sleeve26, being provided between this bracket and the bracket 3 at the left of the arms 5. Rotation there' fore of the gear 25 will rotate the coating f devices on both sides of the arms 5 simulta y neously. The gear 25 meshes with a gear 26 carried by a shaft 27 this shaft carrying a. sprocket or'a`chain 28 the other end of which isl carried by,A a sprocket ymiountcd upon the main drive shaft 29.

The arms 5 are keyed or otherwise rigidly l attached to lthe sleeve 26 and as a conse` quence these arms`will be rotated asa unit with the coating devices and aboutv the same axis.

that eachhe'ad is provided withy a spindle 30 the lower endl of which carries a gear 31,' the upper en d carrying article-supporting Cprongs 32 for' carryinga ball or other article -B to be coated. a `The`gear 31 meshes with Referring again to Fig. 1, it will be seen an intermediate gear 32 also carried `by the` head 6 and a gear 33, the latter"car rying a spindle 34 on which is mounted a bevelled, gear 35'. The spindle 34 extends vertically andL the gear 35 ,is inconstant mesh )with a bevelled gear 36, carried by a horizontally' extending shaft 37 passing through the ends of the arms 5, this shaft also supporting the head 6 I have in elect thereforesuspended extending shaft 37 and as the arms 5 are 'rotated to carry the heads in an arc of al circle f the-gears 31, 32,- 33, 35 and '36\Will impart '110 the heads 6 from the ends of the horizontally FTF" rotation about a vertical axis to the spindles .f

30 Vas the head tends to maintaianitselfina`v vertical position by gravity, to thereby also impart rotationl to the ball and the head (i about the axis ofr the shaft. 37. This n iotion of the spindles`30 aboutl a vertical axis is made positive by the provision of chains 38' passing overa sprocket 39 on"tl1esleeve 26 and a sprocket onl'the shaft 37.

- o Disckargz'ng -or' unlomifizgmechansm. I

ico,

Tliemecli'anism for discharging tllecoated i I articles from themachineflis' best "shown in AjlFigs. 2, 5 and- (il-and will'now be described.v -v

Inasmuch las the articles to be coated are operated upon at both sides .of the brackets.

5 simultaneously I find it'. convenient and.-

.desirable to presidetwol sets -of unloadingr'gwmechanism, these sets being duplicateset each4 other- Referringthierefcreto the mi:

loading mechanism shown at vthe left of 'Fig 1 for example, it will be seen that the drive shaft 29 carries a cam 40 this cam cooperating with a series of lugs 41, twelve in all, on the underside of a plate 42 whichl is mounted upon a vvertically extending Shaft 43.

Connected ,to the plate 42 in any suitable manner as by a key for example, is a gear 44 this gear meshing 'with three other Oears 45,` 46 and 47. The gears 45, 46 and 4r are carried at the lower ends of short shafts 48, 49 and 50 respectively, these short shafts being in turn carried by armsA 51,l 52 and 58 which are mounted for simultaneous, in fact unitary rotation, upon the shaft 43.

l Adjacent the upper ends of the shafts 48, 49 and 50 I provide sleeves 54, 55 and 56 respectively, each keyed to its shaft, these sleeves being provided for the purpose of driving discharging plates 57, 58 and 59 res Jeetively. Each of these plates, as will bev y seen from Fig. 5, is provided with cutouts- 60, these cutouts being arranged in the periphery of theplates or adjacent 'the periphery for the purpose of removing the coated articles from the spindles 30. Each plate is provided with a hub61 adapted to cooperate with an extension 61jvli1ch is provided on the upper face of a clutch 62 on which the plates are supported cooperating with the sleeves 54, 55 and 56 respectively. I y g In the present. machine the plates 57, 58 and 59 are provided with twelve of the cutouts 60 and these eutouts are moved successively into position to receive a coated article by plate-advancing mechanism 48 comprising a mutilated gear 63 on the shaft which meshes with a gear 64 on the shaft 43 carrying the plate 42. The cam 40 on the drive shaft 29 is so arranged and so cooperates with the lugs 41that each time the cam makes one revolution the plate 42 and hence the plates 57, 58 and 59 lwill be given onetwelfth of a revolution. Assuming that the plate 59 is in discharging or unloading position, at each revolution of the cam 40 an opening 60 will be brought into proper po. sition to remove a coated article, from one of the spindles 39.v When this plate'becomes fully loaded the mutilated gear .68 will have been moved into mesh with the gear 64,

y and the'geai ratio between the mutilated i plate 57 will be automaticallymoved to unloading position. 'In the meantime the loaded plates may be removed and replaced with empty plates. l

end Vof the loading tube 75.

Loading mechanism.

Means are provided in the present machine for automatically feeding' or loading the articles to be coated to the machine. At the bottomof the machine and mounted in .bearings in the uprights of the machine I tached to or forms an integral part of a load- 'i ing slide 68. .This same shaft 65 carries a segmental gear 69 meshing with a segmental gea-r 70 the latter being pivoted at 71 and attached to an arm or lever 72 on the same pivot, theLother end of this lever carrying a roller 7 3 which rides in a cam slot 74. From Fig. 2 it will be seen that as the cam which is provided with the cam slot 74 is rotated the armor lever l72 will be given a rocking motion which motion will be imparted to the segmental gear 66 and from thence to the loading slide 68. The slide 68 cooperates with the bottom of a loading tube 75 which is connected to a hopper (not shown) and as the ball or other article to he coated is fed down through this tube 75 a ball will be deposited upon the loading slide 68 provided the slide is in the position shown in Fig. 2. As the arm 72 is actuated this slide is moved to the right as viewed in Fig.' 2 carrying the ball thereon along with it. It will be noticed from Fig. 2 that this slide isprovided with a raised portion or shoulder 76 and this acts as a stop when the slide is in its forward or loadingposition to prevent discharge of the balls from the tube 75 upon the slide. 0f course the movement of this slide is timed properly with the various other movements of the machine so that it goes forward into position to load a ball into the machine as one of the heads 6 moves into position to receive it.

Operation of the machine.

Assuming that the parts are all in the po'- sition shown in Fig. 1 for example, if the machine be set in motion the loadingslide 68 will be moved' forward or to the right as viewed in Fig. 2 into position to carry for.- ward an uncoated article and to close otithe It is to he uuderstood"thatthere aretwo loadingr tubes one at each side ofthe arms 5 aud that the operation of the mechanism at one side of the arms is identical with the operation of the mechanism at the other side of these arms and consequently both loading slides are moved forward simultaneously. As the arms `5 carrying their respective heads 6 are rotated about the shaft 2 the spindles 30 carried by the heads Iare moved upward beneath the ball on each of the loading slides 68, and asthe heads and their spindles contiiiue their upward motion they will finally pick up the articles to be coated from the slides carrying` them upwardly in the arc of ai circle. l

It is to be borne in mind that the coating devices are always in a'fixed position with respect tothe outer ends of the arms 5.

As the articles to vbe coated are moved in their arcuate path the coatingdevices are ,10 also moved therewith in other words are caused to follow the articles,and as-thearticles enter the coating zone the cam 24 and the cam track 22 cooperating with the lever 23 land the, lever 19 respectively o pen thev 1"". valves of a'pair of the coating devices, one on each side of the arms 5, to permit the paint or other coating material to be discharged upon the articles on spindles 30. The spindles 30 it must be remembered at "30 this time are not only being moved in the arc of a circle about an axis coincident with the axis of rotation of the spraying device but they are also being rotatedindividually about a vertical axis due to the action of 25 the gears 31, 32, 33, 35 and 36-so that the articles during ithe spraying operation are presenting lconstantly changing surfaces to Y I .the action of the coating devices.v Finally after the articles have reacheda predetermined position in their travel the valve mechanism of the coatin deviceswill be closed rautomatically and t e coating opera'- tion will cease. c

The` articles, however, continue their arcuate movementfand finally will be brought into register with an opening in one fof the unloading plates. The spindle 30 passes down through one of these openings and the articles, will be deposited upon thep ate.v

During this 4operation the loading sides l68 have been returned to' position beneath the loading .tubes 7 5 to receive fresh articles from s aid tubes and the spindles carried by the'ends of the arms 5 opposite to these ends which are carrying the articles which jhave `just been coated will have moved around into position to pick up these fresh articles yfrom the loading slides, so that before the coated articles have been vdischarged from the conveying mechanism new articles will have been started on theirjournel toward the coating zone. The second load of articles to be coated goes through the same operation as l,that described in connection with the first load, being nnallyv deposited on the discharging or unloading-plates. By ther l'/ time this second loadiof articles reachesthe unloading plates the latter willy have been moved olie-twelfth of a revolution due to 69 the action of the cam 40 and its cooperating lugs 41 so as tobring openings 60 into position to ireceive this second' load of articles from the conveying'mechanism. The load.-

l ing of the articlesfinto thek machine, coating 55 them and then discharging them upon lthe bring a pair of empty memos unloading plates continues'luntil plates .Aon each side of the arms have been completely filled. At this time the mutilated gear 63 will have been rotated into Imesh with the arranged` in stacks the bottom of a plate with its load of freshly coated articles resting upon the hub 61 formed'on the upper surface of each plate, this. hub maintaining the plates spaced from each other to permit the articles to dry vwithout coming in conl tact with each other.

It will be seen therefore that l have provided a machine adapted to coat objects, particularly spherical objects such as. golf halls for example, which is full automatic in its operationfwherein the devices and the articles to be coated are moved in parallel arcuate paths and in Which-the coating de-`-V vices are rotated aboutv an axis which 1s coincident with the axisabout which the art-i'cles to be coated are rotated. In addition to this bodily movement the articles are rotated about a vertical axis, each article being -rotated about an individual axis, so that in passing through the coating zone the articles present a constantly changing surface to the action of the coating devices. This arrangement insures uniform coating of the articles.4

llt will be seen also that inthe present machine-Il have plrovided mechanism which is arranged so t at the machine is loa'ded automatically, means being providedv asy above pointed out to prevent more than the desired number of articles being charged .into the machine at one time.

It will be clearly understood alsov from the foregoing description that the coating devices are automatically controlled so far as their operation is concerned so as automatically to begin the coating operation as the article entersthe coating zone and to be automatically shut o' when the coating operation is completed.

It is to be understood that the design of this machine may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention and that the number of articles which may be coated simultaneously may be varied if desired, the number of articles so coated in the above description having been used by way of illustration only. i

l claim: v

1. ln a coating machine. means `for liolding an ajrticle to be coated, a coating device and means for moving the article and the coating devicev in the same plane in arcuate parallel paths.

2. In a coating machine, means for holding an article to be coated, a spraying de-I ist f atan angle to the axis of rotation. of the `the coatingfoperatiom a coating device, i

means for moving the coating device about an axis, and means for moving thev articlel bodily about an axis parallel tothe axis "of movement of the coating device While vthe article is being givena movement about an axis disposed at an angle to the axis of movenient ofthe coating device.

5. In a machiiieffor coating articles, a support, an arm carried thereby and rotatable thereoina coating device rotatable on said support, an article-carrying device at the outer end of said arm and means for rotating said arm and said coating device about. said support to cause the coating device and the article carried by said arm to be moved in the 'same plane in parallel arcuate paths.

6. Ina machine for coating articles, the

combination of an article-supporting device, a coating device, means for movingl the article-supporting device andthe coating device in the same plane in parallel arcuate paths and means for automatically controlling the operation of said coating device to cause the coatingdevice to operatel oiily throughout a part of the travel of said article-carrying device.

7 .fln a machine for coating articles, the combination of an article-carrying spindle, means for moving said spindle with an article carried thereby through a coating zone, and an unloading plate, said spindle in its travel passing through an opening in said unloading plate to remove the coated article from the spindle.

8. In amahine for coating articles, the combination of means for conveying articles v to be coated through a coating zone, a series of unloading'plates adapted to receive the coated article and `means for periodically advancing an unloading plate to unloading position While simultaneously moving` a iilled plate from unloading position.

9. A'machine for coating articles comprising means for conveying articles to be coated through a c oatingfzone, an unloading V plate in 5the path of travel ,of the coated article, a drive shaft/for .driving the conveying means for the articles to'be coated move the other and saidunloadingfplate, al cain on said drive shaft, a plate, lugs carried thereby and cooperating with said cam, said plate being operatively connected to the unloading plate whereby upon rotation of said drive shaft ythe unloading plate Will be rotated periodically to advance successive predetermined portions of the plate into the coated articles.

l0. In a machine for coating articles, the combination of conveying means for carrying articles to be coated through a coating position to receive zone, a plurality of unloading plates adapted to receive coated articles from said conveying means, a commonisupport for said unloading plates, a common driving means for saidvconveying mechanism and said supporting plates, cam mechanism driven by Said driving means and adapted to rotate one ol' said unloading plates to interpose predetermined portions thereof in the path of the coated articles, and gearing driven by said driving mechanism for actuating one of said plates out ot' article-receiving position and to plateinto receiving or unloading position.

1l. ln a machine for coating articles, unloading mechanism comprising a rotatable arm, a sleeve carried thereby, a shaft extending vertically through said sleeve, a clutch member supported on said sleeve, an unloading plate carried by said clutch member and Vprovided with a projection on the face thereof cooperating with an extension on said clutch member whereby lateral displacement of the unloading plate With respect to the clutch member is prevented, said plate being provided with openings symmetrically arranged in the face thereof and adapted to receive the coated articles.

12. In a machine for coating articles, unloading mechanism comprising a rotatable plate, lugs carried thereby, cam mechanism cooperating Withsaid lugs, a gear operatively connected to said plates, a pair of arms rotatably supported in axial alignment with said plate, an unloading plate carried by each arm, a gear operatively connected to each of said unloading plates and to the irst-mentionel gear whereby upon actuation of the lug-carrying plate by said cam the .unloading plates will be rotated a part of a revolution, and a mutilated gear operatively connected to said lug-carrying plate adapted to simultaneously swing one of said unloading plates out of unloading position and the other of said plates to unloading position.

13.'In a machine for coating articles, a

shaft, an arm rotatable-thereon, a system of` hy said head and adapted to be driven from said spindle whereby when said farm is rotated an article carried by said prongs Will be moved in the arc of a circle and simultaneously rotated about a vertical axis.

14. In a machine for coating articles, the combination of means for conveying an ar ticle to be coated through a coating zone, a loading trough, a loading slide cooperating therewith and with s'aid ,conveying mechanism to simultaneously advance the article to be coated in the path of said conveying mechanism and to block said loading trough, a drive shaft for said conveying mechanism and a gear driven from said shaftfor reciprocating said loadin slide.

15. In a machine for coat-ing artic es, the combination of mechanism for carrying articles .to be coated through a coating zone,

"and loading mechanism automatically operable to present an article to said conveying mechanism periodically, said loading mechanism being timed with respect to the :Leemans conveying mechanism so as to advance an mechanism reaches a predetermined point in its travel. 4 f

16. In'a machine for coat-ing articles, an unloadin trough, an unloading slide cooperating terewith, a rack connected to said slide, a quadrant meshing With said rack, cam mechanism forfoscillating" said quadrant to reciprocate said slide, conveying mechanism for conveying the articles to be coated and adapted to receive such articles from said slide, said slide and conveying mechanism being so timed that as the conv veying mechanism reaches a` predetermined point in its travel the slide will be moved into position to present.v an article to be coated thereto, said slide at the same time blocking said loading trough to prevent the discharge at that instant of an additional article therefrom.` p s rllhis specification signed this 19th day lof April 1923. f

Hina/M N. nnen.

.article to'lOading position as the conveying Y 

